A Firm Foundation
I am fascinated with medieval architecture ever since I can remember.
*** Recently I experienced a 21 day free online meditation, Miraculous Relationships. In silent time of daily segments, I received many images of painted and written material including scrolls of ancient Asian type writing from various cultures as well as symbols carved onto stones or in caves. After the sessions, I jotted images and noted impressions in a journal.
One of the pictures stood out. "Paint Me Now!"
An image had slowly developed out of clouds of light and fog. I felt and saw a cold clear blueness. **** "I can still feel the clear mountain air, the crisp chill it brought."
This inner eye picture slowly developed into a sky-sea-stone event. It came in (downloaded) starting with sky melting into sea. The image came in section by section instead of a completed fully formed picture. Next I perceived a steep rooftop forming followed by stone outcroppings which were the building's foundations. I felt a sculpture (angel?) forming standing on a pediment.
After meditation, I penciled in a drawing-sketch of the building I had "seen." I started with a small piece of paper. The lines grew right off the paper, so I taped a second paper onto the first as a zagged stair step drew itself out to the lower right.
The colors were very clear now as I penciled in "blue sea" etc as hue indicators of what I would paint. The stones were ancient and perhaps crumbling. Colors of the stones were blued through the veil of crisp cold air. I could breathe in the scene.
Painting day came in on a crisp clear blue early autumn morning. The color and energy of the air matched the vision I had. I put the painting flat on the table and closed the drapes most of the way to receive the bluest muted light. I opened the doors and windows. First I brushed in the blue sky fading to ocean then took some tan stokes and blocked in the building, gradually adding slashes of blue and grey giving a bit of depth. Next I started up the blue area above the building. It felt like sea yet the sky appeared. I stepped back, there were misty mountains visible along with the clouds and fog. I ran out of the clear blue mist of paint I had mixed. I quit!
After a few weeks, the oil paint layer had dried thoroughly. Then I carved in the roof and stones, sharpened the shadows and added the sculpture I felt was there at the roof line. The zagged steps begged me to straighten them as in the sketch, but they painted themselves crooked. Why?
As the painting progressed, I cut the sharp shadows and rough hewn stones into the paint with a small chisel brush and palette knife.
Why was I seeing images of scenes and buildings?
"....silent meditation permits the mind's eye to go beyond its limitations and experience your core consciousness," Deepak Chopra (Facebook Oct 5, 2013).
Detail and Mystery
Random Notes:
Stone-Sea-Sky~
Dwelling-Ruin on a cliff (painting) Meditation, clear air, breathe it.
Smell the oil paint! Like walnuts roasting!
Viewpoint like a gull-eagle soaring effortlessly overhead.
Ongoing Discovery:
Several days ago, I opened a book about Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy. A huge color spread greeted my eye. My heart quickened. I was drawn to a small simple building several hundred feet below Mont-Saint Michel. The small structure was near the sea built on a bed of steep rocks. "That's it! That's what I'm painting!"
I recognized the structure instantly, even though it was viewed from the side instead of from above. The color in this photo displayed iron oxide stained rocks, the building's stones were light tan instead of grey in bright sun and shadow.
I flipped quickly through the pictures, one by one, and SAW a photo of what I was painting, colors and all! How can that be? I know I leafed through this book at least 10 years ago and "saw" this blue view but did not consciously recall it until now.
I looked at the blue photo for a couple of seconds, then closed the book and put it back on the shelf. Yes, the zagged ancient steps are crooked, built around their natural granite rock foundation. I smiled to notice changes "I" had made.
"Don't Touch It," I perceived a silent voice.
The building is St. Aubert's Chapel. In 708 A.D. The Monk Aubert had a vision from St. Michael, the Archangel, who instructed him to build a church on the mountain above the chapel.
Mont-Saint-Michel was born of vision and wonder.
** "The Archangel Loved Heights!" Henry Adams
Stillness ~ Vision ~ Spontaneity ~ Creativity
Related Posts:
Tonal Vision (the Power of Music) and Angels 101 (Jan 2011), Encounters With Michael, A Different Light, Painting Mont-Saint-Michel (Feb 2011), Grow Green, help your brain grow new neurons (April 2011), Healing Hearts (May 2011), Running Wild in the Universe (poem), July 2011, Lavender Blue (June 2012), Sacred Destination (Sept 2012), Angels in the Architecture and Electric Handshake (June 2013)
Resources:
* Quote from illustrator, author, filmmaker, Peter Sis, Conference of the Birds. "For as long as I can remember, I have loved to draw pictures of flying, freedom and birds."
http://www.petersis.com
** Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres by Henry Adams. Explore sacred sights with the author including St. Michael's Mountain in Normandy.
http://www.fullbooks.com Thousands of free full text online books available including Mont-St-Michel and Chartres.
*** Deepak Chopra and Oprah Winfrey team up to present 21 Day Meditation Challenges, various topics.
**** Silver Butterfly, Create A Vision, Awaken Your Creative Spirit, free E-book by Dahlis Roy
Le Mont Saint-Michel, book by Jean-Paul Benoit, photographs by Jean-Paul Gisserot (1994 edition). This book written in French. I almost gave it away three times recently, but something held me back.
Wiki, Mont-Saint Michel, St. Aubert's Chapel
Visit The Cloisters, New York City, USA.
http://dbasham.blogspot.com Debra Basham's Blog: Yellow Brick Road, Your Path to Heart and Health
Song of the Day: All I've Got To Do (Lennon/McCartney) from the UK album With the Beatles. It was 50 years ago in mid October when John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote I Want To Hold Your Hand, "and the rest is history!"
Total Memory Makeover, Book by Marilu Henner, actress. How does memory work? Steps to improve, store and retrieve your memories.
Dahlis Roy: Visionary Artist, Author, and Tai Chi Instructor
Photos by Dahlis
I left these photos as taken, free of enhancement or cropping.
Ancient Times, school sculpture by Rob
Pencil Sketch Ancient Building: what is it?
Start of Painting the meditative image
Completed Painting, Sky-Sea-Stones, Impression of St. Aubert's Chapel
Sculpture (Angel?) Who is it? Colors and Canvas Vibrate
Blue Light on Jagged Steps. Imagination is Fun. The dark "cave" to the left presents three animal images: I see a black wolf cub in cartoon form (40's style) with round head and large eyes. There is a black bear cub tilting his cocked head upward (part of the wolf image). At the bottom of the cave, a cougar lies crouched, head and shoulders. To the right of the cave and before the steps, I see a Cheetah head and shoulders, head cocked. What do you see?
The Stonecutter's Art, Zen Walkway, photo contributed by Debra Basham
